on literary culture and civilization

8/9/2019 On Literary Culture and Civilization

1/13

H OHNON

ON LITERAY CULTURE AND

CIILIZATION: AUTOPSY FOR A

CREATIE WRITING WORKSOP

I believe it would be a tremendous mistake for me to ome to

the University of Michigan and deliver one of the Hopwoodetures in the distinguished presence of writer Niholas Delbanco and not speak about the late novelist John Gardnerwhom we shared as a mentor more than thirty years ago I intend to say a few things about John Gardner one of the mostremarkable writing teahers in our time but before I do thatId like to talk about what happenedor didn't happeninmy own advaned ctionwriting workshop this past winter atthe University of Washingon

This is my thirtyseond year of teaching the craft of theshort story and the novel I sometimes call my lasses forboth graduates and underaduates a boot camp for reativewriting I refer to what we do eah tenweek aademic quarteras being applied aesthetics nd I onsider myself fortunatethat over the last three decades my former students havespread out all over the world They are editors now andtenured professors literary ritis bestselling award-

winning novelists poets and screenwriters And of course,some of my students became bankers and partners in midsized law rms but they are bankers and lawyers who stillwrite ction and have an nsatiable love for literature and thearts

In one of my typial lasses students are alled upon towrite three stoies in ten weeks and revise two of them. Theymust turn in eah week a fully developed plot outline for a

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w story and fm .h Gde'u oo T f duig c u u d te r duo o o ofe of o er eer t ter ad te studtstey rducd ftyfour stores ad 252 eercses ad tory

utls all of wch dutfully rad ad redatd h equrets I just derbed ave served studts year aferear bcause ts s a labortesve ll acqusto courseoe that easzes te sequetal acqusto of cto techques ad provdes the opportuty to practce the But yope has always bee to trast y teacg o tajust a vocatoal sll because tecques are far fro begeutral tools devod of cultural values te cotrary/w wch the acet Greks uderstood as beg skllful

at dog soethg always ·volves vso All y lfe Ive always beleved that appretces lear best as usc or theartal arts throgh oldfagled tato of aster crase trough assgets aed at learg a repertoire ofterary strateges ad by wtg ad revsg prodigouslyFor tat reaso Ive assged Professor Delbacos book ThSincst Fm fro the te t was publshed I see te goalof a terary art cass as beg te creato of artsts who aretechcas of for ad laguage t s te preparato of pro

lc joureye ot oetrck poes wo oe day wll beable to tae o ay arratve assgetcto or octo screeplay or rado draa ovel or lterary jouralsthat coes up ter careers f oly for the sake of theracal suvval I wat te to becoe e ad woe ofletters o who othg of sgcace our socal ad cultural world s lost to be able to epatze wt ad wrteabout lves oter ta ter ow to produce wors wt thepotetal to becoe cultural artfacts gfts of goodess trutad beauty that wll eterta ad elgte geeratos ofreaders bvously such a class as to ae cla that wrtg well s the sae thg as tkg well

So why he dd y wter class a few weeks ago tu outto be so dsappotg ad at es eve depressg

Oe easo gt be that for ts class I tred oetgew for tr rst sort stoes Ive aways let y studetsrte about ay subect tey wated y arguet beg tat

I ddt wat to urtal ter creave freedo But last fall I


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G Q:

png h rr tor th adrn nt ouin

Whn thy td ths tory in diord ht nl hf ghtn tudn wr abl to tay n pont wth ththr ntns av th n story aftr tory saw th

alur of th agnaton and nvnton. t was thn ral-d would hav to ratht down y xptatons for thtr. Thnally so of thr stors wr n but ftn ofths studntsost of th sniorswr unabl to taup th halng and o thy usually prsntd th woanlving alon as drangd only thning sh was alon and inso stors sh had illd o vry on around hr

ftr lstning to thr stors ralzd should not havbn surprisd by th falur of this print ohn Gard-

nr on obsrd that Plot s th writrs quvalnt to thphlosophrs argunt What h antor what blivh antwas that thr is a logi to th ausal sun ofvnts in vry story and that ths opllng and nxorablsun of vnts s an ntrprtation that shows us o-thng portant and plausbl about our world. But on ourrst da of lass not a singl on of y studnts was abl totll th diffrn btwn plot and story. Non had rad M Forstrs lass dniton of thos two things n Ass te Nvel though thy all sd to hav sn and rbrd vry ov anyon ntond n lass On haringyoung lady n said that day that n hr prvious lasss shwas allowd to writ stors that had no plot

Baus y prnt had fald

llowd y studntsto writ whatvr ontnt ty wshd for thir sond storsdu v ws latr. W worshoppd ths tons for an-othr v ws. Fr to writ anything thy plasd on ofy tudnts turnd n a story about a oung drug dalr whoon th ast two pags lls a an tryng to stal hs drugs n-othr spnt twnty pags taing us through what happns tohr twntysothng protagonist aftr sh tris to nd hrif wth an ovrdos of panllrs waling th radrthrough vry tdous dtal at th psyhatr unt n a Satt hoptal. Anothr story by an oldr woan in lass portrayd th physa and psyhologial abus a woan on anndan rsrvaton suffrd fro hr ry ondinsional

husband who h bat to a pulp by th nd of th story


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R

nd thn he a h ty aot a ong t ho an an rtaurant n hs oodtra urgng hevry nd of drg agnale dstortng s prcpton soady t otr cstors appar to h to e dsgustngrpls and prstorc anas The story of cours rougt

to nd Hunter Thopson's F Loth n s VsBoth th autor of that story and te student o crtqud tt grat pras sad ty loved F ohi, ut thyhad not rad th ook ony sn the ov verson starrngJonny Dpp and te studnt provdng coentary thatday prefaced s rarks y statng h as a santhropeho ved tngs alays turnd out or te orse Yt anothr student rote aout a young an ho s gvn an astrn uropean pastry y an od oan ho lvs n s apart

ent uldng Tastng t h rers a trp took acrossurop and th ov aar he alost ad tere askd thsyoung rtr f e had rad Prousts nns W her Mares eory s trggrd y a adln No sad edpcked up ths strategy y radng a Stuart Dy story

Thus thngs nt for ve eeks story aftr stoy steepd nvolenc drugs cyncs and notcd a profound dsk forothr uan engsAs rad tese stores ft troud coudnt help ut thnk of th advc th at Ax Hay gaveto young rtrs "Fnd the good and pras t also rered a reark ade y one of y tter studnts n the80s soone ho dscussd th e John Gardnrs controvrsa lterary anfsto O Mo Fition and sadt s to e desparngly effetv and hard to rt afratons of fe And naly found ysf tnng of sothng Martn utr ng Jr sad n s 64 Nol Przeacceptanc spch "Cvlaton and vonce assertd

"are antttcal conpts What ondrd dd these student ctons say aout our cutur and cvlaton at thedan of t tntyrst cntury

Hover, thr as one story n that second round of ctons tat stood out fro th others a draft tat ad th potental to spak poeruly to our ont n cutura hstoryut not rady qute yt to talk aout ths one

As ts aadc quartr ca to an nd, dcded to dosotng havnt done n yars and usually ony for gn

nng and ntrdate cton ters dung our rst k of


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cas. o th> t y m wine kd ho sud i y updly dvncd e wrt wrhpto e e n x one page f he ne p onhed eer read and o rte a paraaph epanng hhey felt ht pge r those paragraphs had great lterary

rtue I aked the o do ths nearly poble task o that ould take the teperature of ther ultural teray Theyere free to hooe any ttle fro the last to thouand yarof Wetern lterature or ton fr the ar at or Mddleast Afra or South Aera. I told the peally not tohoose hat they elt I ght approve of only rtng nhh they a the reatet artt eellenenstanes oflterary skll they adred and hed to eulate Here s

hat they ae p th our people ddnt do the assgnen

onathan afran oer Evrything Is lumnatedavd ear, he hange n eon eLllo Udrworlonathan ranen Th Crrconen ee O Flw or h Ckoo' NLouse rdrh The Pnd Drumtalo alno nbl t

ora Marthy Th Rad (T tent hoeMarthy

tephen ng Th Gulr (he ark oer ere . alnger Sour: An toduoyla lah T Bll Jy pel In the eetery he l olson uredMaranne gns Hrlf n Lo

To y surprse the lst as not as bad as Id epeted Aouple of rters I repet hghly or long o reeed thprase Calno and MCrthy ere represented But ratherthan pas udgent on the lt I deded ntead to send t toa fe profesonal rters teahers and rts hose opnons trut I asked the What do you thnk of ther readnghabs terary tate and preparaton for beong rter

The rst rspone I got bak a fro y frend and for-er tudent ad uteron author of the besteller nn n r, hoe ne fourth noel thr ll

appear ths eaon. He sad


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14 \_ C�ARTERLY VIW

writng I u wersud d ey a to c s lyu eahu evle! Home� Virgl!" Te eat ot f thuht a tratue d

d lastly crtc chael Aderso ad

As ady the cae th yu peple they ha t reuh here to e at have ee ay uld ethe suest ay to teah cretve rt? y a aread st scus hy the shud eeeed ht hs ee to e the orst y? o tudet to tu ter drve

eeral my freds otced the same ths ddamely that my studets ere maly read recet ad

hhly promoted authors pubshed after 960 ad thscase o owhte wrters except rdrch here ere a coupleo prose stylsts authors ho show us aew the epressvepossltes of the lsh toue as Professor Delacodoes but few works from the Wester cao ad othwhatsoever from oWester cultures pparetly my culturally provcal studets had ot read a lovely lttle bookcalled Th Ec mgin by crtc Northrop Fryehch assed at the be of the term that workrally preseted the 960s as s halfhour rado talkso the value ad use of lterature Frye tells us that rters desre to rte ca oly have come from prevous e-peece of lterature ad hell start by mtat hateverhes read hch usually meas what the peope aroud hmare wrt hs provdes hm th what s called a coveto a certa typcal ad socally accepted way of wrt

other words despte the fact that oe of the most saced

of sacred cos creatve wrt classes s that wrtersshould wrte about what they kow the truth s that therchess or poverty of a rters vso of lterary possbltesca be drectly correlted th what the wrter hasor hasotread lterature hstory phlosophy the sceces adcultures other tha the oe he or she ws bor to ad codtoed by as sk the to rte years before they hadah terest or oal to say But as t smply ther that was the problem dot thk so At least ot ther

boocal ae; the poblem s most lke the evelop ae


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h e l t e hare th ou h rt erc rr Raph Ellso ho tdes hd o red asdog to prepare self he he as a sophomore or juorat uskegee Isttute

I Ralph Elln: Emergn f Gnius, lterary crtc

arece Jackso relates a cdet at uskegee Isttutehch proved to e crucal for Ellsos developmet ad susefu for our purposes here he most scat dscoveryof 1935 for Ellso says Jackso

as S Elots poem he aste Lad th a prodgous epedture of eerg Ellso steppedup hs readg order to al do the poems meag He looked upElots seve pages of refereces th Professor Spraguescollegal adve formg hs searh ad ega to upackthe layers of the poem he lrary eploratos tookhm to e terrtores of geograph ad athropology E-so ega th esse estos Fr Rit t Rncearly a gudeook to eludate the dcutes of thepoem esto revealed the rthura leged ad sher-kg myths dretly ehd Elots poem eorge raer'smultvolumed Th dn Bh provded hm th aoverve of huma rtual ad culture Ellso reved hsdusty Lat skls drlled to hm at Douglass Hgh School kahoma order to uderstad a geerous vd uotehch Elot foud dspesae as ell as the smattergof reh hed taed the fal he ehaustg researchetted hm tmacy th may of the maor caocaester tets ot staples the skegee urruum suchas Th And vds Mtrph St ugustes Cn{sin Th Infrn Spesers Pthin PrdiLt Th Tpt ad Antn nd ptr the eeksfollog the hstorca educato lterature ad athro-

pology he came to the ork of ord ado ord Sheroodderso ertrude Ste ad more Hemga

I other ords Ellsos educato demaded of h thathe tmately ko jaz n the sources for all the refereces Elots poem lack hstory n St ugustes nfssin;the orks of the Harlem Reassace n Sherood dersohat a Eurocetrc currcuu provded n hat t delerately cesored at the tme It requred a certa geeros-

ty of sprt ecause ths approch t learg s cjuctve


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: ) EVEW

disjunctve; o ·'hr/o h "h-hd re t o r Dr.n er g J a evhng n and lr nteaed ad nrcodhe ac h e heWn, he arn t s Kg aid an n

capable newor f uualy ed n a sngle garnt ofdesny This idea of creolizaon s also central o Bddhsthough and is exprssed y he ruh of dependen orgnaton (prtiya samutpad) which says tha ohing comes noeistence indeendently, and hat al hings n his niversedepend on all other hings for ther eng

I believe Profssor Delanco wll aree ith me ha ormentor John Gardner was a wrier ho emraed the llisonan sprit hat emodies Fryes elie in a learned edcated

imagination Because of the examle he provded when I waswenyfour years old and two years away from pulshng yrst novel in 974 t was never necessary for me to ae acreave rting class n college He augh hosands of sudens among hem Raymond arver and he rovided us allwh a rare example of what an arist and scholar cold eHe sad perhaps n exaggeraon tha he new welve languages ancien and modern Bu he clearly as a Chaucerscholar and so loved the oet Homer that at age foryve he

augh hmself Gree n order to do hs own translaions forhs sudens at SUBinghaon, whose or y the way,Gardner blished a his own epense in a ierary jornal hestarted n the 950s, writers such as Joyce Carol ates andWillia H Gass He roe lreos, screenlays plays for theage oo revies ha ere le posion papers on aeshec issues oery shor stores, oped eces for newsapers ciicsm very form of prose possle in he nglshlanguage and somehow he also found the tme o play he

rench horn In shor he was a an of etters wrer in hefulles eaning of ha word one who would so a ohngn order to imrove I remeer ommening o Gardnersrs wfe Joan, ao ho mpressed I was by the oeic vocauary Gardner ehibited n hi Jason a fea, areellng of the Gree myh She smiled and old e that afterreadng one of her hsands oos she colained ha henever sed any ig ords in his stories Determned o xthat ardnershe sadtoo ou his agnifyng glas and


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'LE W7

d evry d m o Z T Compact Editwn f' Oxj(Jrd Eglsh Dcty, eai as id , m reha each ord is ie a old coi hadld y milios: eahih is varios mais, s a tissue of eperieces ad iterpreatios of our predecessors crystalized ito ord

Garder was ust as passioately committed to teach ashe as to riti ot as a professio or a hoy ut as away of life I leared so much ood ad ad) from ust watchi ho this dedicaed artist coducted himself for te yearsI wish I could say the time I spt wori ith Garder asalways smooth ut eve the est of literary appreticeships,those ased o love ad mutual respect may have prolemswhe the appretice stries out i ew directios Garder

elieved as a artist ad scholar i asori what Matthewrold called the est that has ee o ad said Whilehe was deeply Wester ad rotestat i his leari, I eawith my secod ovel Oxhng Tl to move closer to theaster philosophies that had sustaied ad ourshed mefrom the time I was a teeaer There was o falli out etwee us ut he hotly argued with me aout Buddhism, sayi i oe letter If Buddhism is riht the I've lived my life

wro ad I cat accept that I must cofess that I was dis-appoited y his reactio at the time ecause it was Garderwho ispired mea philosophy persoto study Mot th ad Middle lish poetry, ad to revisit writerslie Ralph Waldo merso who i oe of his letters i 180wrote, very history i the world is my history I ca as read-ily d myself i the edas as i the New Testamet iesop as i the Camride latform or the Declartio of I-depedece

But to his credit ad despite our disaeemets Garderwrote to my pulisher efore the oo came out i 1982 adased if he could edorse the ovel

Furthermore, he also traslated with Nouo Tsuui theZelie stories of Kiuo Itaya for a volume etitled ngh This wor was pulished posthumously i 198 ust ayear after his fatal motorcycle accidet I his leghy adthouhtful itroductio o this oo called "Meditatioal Fic

tio Garder says


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t '1-RS .JOHNS 09

uon u e oeal of e sto a o aad ou moaea f se ee kg t e alda ould ove to e memoae Se ed e stoy oma e ast eeme Vemot aout fty eoleteeags ad youg adultsoe io e ome summeome of oet Roet Fost ey ated fo ous eylayed dig games tis ae wt a tea sitte youg Vsgots oe widows sees dses ad atiues e destoyed tales ad ais tues ad ligtxtues ey smased wie futue ad desses adte tew te iees to te elae to wam te ueateduldig ey sat legm o atwo agg o t wallsey et vomt ue ad ee as eveywee ad oatedte lae wit yellow olele dust dsaged fom e e

tguses ememe eadg ts ew sto duig testmas oldays, ad tig tey must ave ee loom te 196 movie veso o M. Yes as aseewte wat ovies too s ealle stoy ededwit te vadals eg idetied ad oe dieet yougeso asg i e ould use s mug sot fo s age oFaeoo

My studet magied e otagost to e a studioustwetysometg ollege studet amog te ty eole wo

deseated Fosts ome a sy gl wo s ulled alog y soal essue ad te mdst o tis destuto awaes towee se s wose o ts is i a deely siitual way its hr ome as mu as it is tat o Roet Fost ad se isovewemed y te feelig tat someow se must st teotes

told m studet was dyig to see te et da

on literary culture and civilization

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